Who Are the Hmong?
The Hmong are a mountain-dwelling people of Southeast Asia, numbering approximately **12-15 million globally**—including 4-5 million in China (where they are called Miao), 1 million in Vietnam, 600,000 in Laos, 200,000 in Thailand, and approximately 300,000 in the United States (primarily in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). Speaking Hmong languages (part of the Hmong-Mien family), they maintained autonomous highland communities throughout their history, practicing swidden agriculture, cultivating opium for trade, and preserving rich textile traditions—their embroidered story cloths (**paj ntaub**) rank among Asia's finest folk arts. The American Hmong community exists largely because of their alliance with the CIA during the Vietnam War's "Secret War" in Laos.
Highland Culture and Migration
The Hmong originated in central China, where historical records document them from at least 2,000 years ago. Pressured by Han Chinese expansion and periodic rebellions, many Hmong migrated southward over centuries into the mountains of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Burma. They favored high elevations—above 1,000 meters—practicing **swidden agriculture** (slash-and-burn), growing rice, corn, and vegetables. Opium cultivation became economically important in the colonial period, providing cash income in marginal environments. Traditional Hmong society organized around patrilineal clans; eighteen major clans (xeem) structure social life, determining marriage (one cannot marry within one's clan), mutual aid, and ceremony. Villages were relatively autonomous, led by elders and clan heads rather than hereditary chiefs. Women's elaborate embroidery—especially **paj ntaub** ("flower cloth")—served as art, communication, and cultural preservation, with specific patterns identifying clans and regions while encoding traditional knowledge.
The Secret War
The **Secret War** in Laos (1961-1975) shaped modern Hmong history. As the Vietnam War expanded, the CIA recruited Hmong fighters—ultimately some 30,000 soldiers—to fight Communist Pathet Lao forces and North Vietnamese troops using the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. General **Vang Pao** commanded this clandestine army, which suffered devastating casualties—some estimates suggest one-third of Hmong men of fighting age died. The US dropped more bombs on Laos than on all of Europe in World War II, creating unexploded ordnance that kills Laotians to this day. When Saigon fell in 1975, the US abandoned its Hmong allies; many fled to Thai refugee camps amid Pathet Lao reprisals. Over the following decades, approximately 130,000 Hmong resettled in the United States, creating the American Hmong community. The "Secret War" remained largely unknown to Americans—a hidden tragedy whose survivors built new lives while struggling for recognition of their sacrifice.
Story Cloths and Traditional Arts
Hmong **paj ntaub** (story cloths) evolved in refugee camps as women depicted their experiences—flight from Laos, crossing the Mekong River, life in camps. These embroidered panels, originally created for tourist sale, became powerful documents of displacement and survival, now collected by museums. Traditional paj ntaub used reverse appliqué and intricate embroidery to create geometric patterns with symbolic meanings; the refugee story cloths adapted these techniques to narrative purposes. Today, Hmong American artists work in multiple media—textiles, visual art, film, literature—exploring diaspora identity while honoring traditional aesthetics. Authors like **Kao Kalia Yang** (memoir The Latehomecomer) and filmmakers document the refugee experience for new generations. **Hmong New Year** celebrations, held in cities across America, feature traditional dress (elaborately embroidered and silver-ornamented), ball-tossing courtship games, and cultural performances connecting diaspora communities to heritage.
Contemporary Hmong Communities
American Hmong have built communities while facing challenges of refugee integration. **St. Paul, Minnesota** has the largest urban Hmong population; **Fresno, California** and communities in Wisconsin also have substantial populations. Economic success has varied: many older refugees struggled with language and employment, while younger generations have achieved educational and professional success. Cultural tensions exist around gender roles (traditional patrilineality confronting American feminism), bride price practices, and intergenerational communication as youth become English-dominant. Political engagement has grown: in 2011, **Mee Moua** became the first Hmong American state senator (Minnesota). In Southeast Asia, Hmong communities in Laos still face discrimination and, some allege, ongoing persecution; in Thailand, many remain stateless in refugee camps. The Hmong demonstrate both the trauma of Cold War abandonment and the resilience of refugee communities, maintaining cultural identity while adapting to dramatically different circumstances across three continents.
References
- Vang, C. Y. (2010). Hmong America: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora. University of Illinois Press.
- Hamilton-Merritt, J. (1993). Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos. Indiana University Press.
- Chan, S. (1994). Hmong Means Free: Life in Laos and America. Temple University Press.
- Yang, K. K. (2008). The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir. Coffee House Press.